Summer Jobs
by Nysha63
Summary: Ryan and Seth get summer jobs. This was written for the OC sentence challenge at TWoP.
1. Default Chapter

****

Title: Summer Jobs  
**Author:** Nysha  
**Sentence:** Seth and Ryan get a summer job.   
**A/N:** The usual disclaimers apply—I don't own any of these characters, I just like to play with them. This was written for TWoP's Sentence Challenge. Also, this is AU, so Theresa never got pregnant, Caleb didn't buy The Lighthouse or go broke, and Sandy went back to the public defenders office because that is where he belongs. Unfortunately, Ryan is still dating Marissa, but she never shows up, so it's all good.

Summer Jobs

"Dude, you, me, Tahiti, pretty girls in bikinis, the ultimate summer vacation." Seth bounced, waved his hands, and then attempted an awkward hula dance trying to capture Ryan's attention.

"Seth, your parents are never going to let us sail that raft of yours to Tahiti." Ryan didn't bother lifting his eyes from the paper as he shot down Seth's awesome vacation idea. "Besides, even if your parents let us go, which they won't, Summer would have one of her infamous rage blackouts if she thought you were going to look at pretty girls in bikinis. Didn't you learn anything in Las Vegas?"

"Aw, yes, rage blackouts." Even Seth's unruly hair seemed to deflate at the though of his girlfriend's reaction to pretty girls in bikinis.

"So, do you have a better idea for the summer?" Seth challenged Ryan.

"Jobs. I checked at the Crab Shack, but they don't have any openings." Ryan replied, glancing over at Seth.

"Come on, Ryan. Dude, we have had this talk before, remember? They're parents, they work for us and guardians are the same thing." said Seth.

Ryan sighed and then glared at Seth. "Look, even you give sailing lessons in the summer to pick up spending money." He explained, semi-patiently. "I'm cool with your parents providing necessities, but I feel weird asking them for money so I can take Marissa out to dinner."

"OK, yeah, but here's the deal. I was hoping for some major Seth/Ryan time this summer. We've both been so busy with school and our girls that we never seem to connect and I wanted to fix that." Seth started bouncing again. "If Tahiti's out, how about Catalina? That's closer and if we leave out the girls in bikinis angle it's less likely to get us killed. Or get me killed, anyway."

"Seth, I'm getting a job, deal." Ryan said. "We'll have evenings or something for Seth/Ryan time."

Seth stared over Ryan's head and drummed his fingers on the counter. "What if we got jobs together? I'm sure Mom would love to have us intern or something at the Newport Group. We could sit a fancy desk, maybe answer the phone a couple of times and rake in the cash."

"No. I want a real job. Your parents give me too much as it is. I'm not spending the summer sitting on my butt in an office so your mom has an excuse to give me a paycheck." Ryan was beginning to get exasperated. "I don't care what you say, I'm not sponging off your parents all my life."

"Why not, that's Seth's plan." Sandy joked as he joined the boys in the kitchen. "So what brought on this declaration of independence?"

"I'm looking for a summer job and Seth seems to think Kirsten would be willing to pay us to hang around her office all day." Ryan explained.

"Hmm, he's probably right, but if you're looking for real work, how about The Lighthouse?" Sandy asked. "We need waiters for the lunch hour. You two could put in 3-4 hours a day during the week and still have your nights and weekends free for Summer and Marissa. Plus the tips ain't too shabby."

"No, Dad, you're missing the point. We don't want to actually work. Well, I don't want to work. Ryan has some misguided theory that getting a paycheck for just showing up is immoral, but I'm positive that with a little encouragement he will soon see the error of his ways." Seth rambled, trying to clarify his point to Sandy.

"Actually, Sandy, working at The Lighthouse sounds great." Ryan quickly added before Seth could get his second wind.

"Who's working at The Lighthouse?" Kirsten asked as she walked over to get a cup of coffee.

"The boys are looking for summer jobs and I offered to hire them at The Lighthouse. We could use the help and now that I'm back with the public defender's office I'll have more time to hang around the restaurant. It would be nice to spend some time with my favorite kids at my favorite hang out." Sandy answered.

"Yeah, whatever, Dad." Seth cut in to explain to the situation to his mother. "Mom, don't you have something at The Newport Group that doesn't entail actual physical labor? The closest I want to get to food is eating it."

"I could use a personal assistant for a few hours during the day. Someone to run errands, make copies, and find files." Kirsten replied.

"What happened to Carla?" Sandy asked. "Did she decide not to return from maternity leave?"

"She's finding it difficult to balance a full time job, a newborn, and two preschoolers, especially since her au pair returned to England earlier than expected. The new one doesn't arrive until August and she asked if she could work part time through the summer. If the boys could work a few hours during the morning, she could take over in the afternoon." Kirsten explained.

"That'll work." Ryan said. "Seth can sit at a desk and answer phones at your office and I can wait tables at the restaurant."

"No way, that's not what I wanted." Seth protested. "Remember the idea was to get jobs together so we could have Seth/Ryan time, which is totally different from Seth/Mom time."

"Besides which, it's hardly fair for Seth to get a cushy office job while you work your butt off, Ryan." Sandy said. "We could use an afternoon host as well as waiters. Hailey is the hostess in the evening, but we've been winging it during the lunch hour. It's a lot easier than waiting tables, although the dress code is a bit stricter."

"Why didn't you offer that job to me?" Seth complained. "I would totally rock at wearing a suit while standing at the front desk."

"Right, so Seth can be the host and I'll wait tables." Ryan looked from Seth to Sandy to Kirsten, trying to get a handle on the discussion. "That works for The Lighthouse, but what is Kirsten going to do for a personal assistant?"

"We'll compromise." Kirsten said. "Seth can work at The Newport Group two days a week, while Ryan works at The Lighthouse. You guys can then switch places for two days. That way everything gets covered and Sandy and I each get to have some Seth/Ryan time. And you'll still have one weekday plus weekends to hang out."

"Boys, your mother is genius." Sandy said, kissing Kirsten and leading her from the room.

"What just happened?" Seth asked. "One minute we're on a boat sailing to Catalina and the next minute we're enslaved to the man."

Ryan sighed. "Your parents happened, dude, they're like a force of nature."

"No way." Seth replied. "I'm still the puppet master and they're still the puppets."

"World domination to follow." Ryan said with a grin.


	2. Ryan's First Day

A/N: No betas were harmed in the writing of this chapter, so any errors are totally and completely due to the author's incompetence. As always, I own nothing, which is too bad because we'd have Naked!Ryan once a week if I did.

Ryan's First Day

Ryan checked his image in the executive washroom mirror, while Sandy grinned proudly over his shoulder. "Pretty snazzy, Ryan" Sandy said, "Definitely beats a jumpsuit, right?" Ryan grinned back, amazed at the changes in his life over the last year. Sandy reached around and straightened his tie, gave him a hearty hug and a push towards the door.

Standing at the front desk, Ryan smiled politely at the four Newpsies and asked them to follow him. His ears burned as they audibly whispered to each other, admiring the way his muscles rippled beneath the cotton slacks.

Once seated, he passed out menus and tried to escape unscathed, but one of the Newpsies 'accidentally' brushed her hand against his thigh and pinched his butt. Startled, Ryan jumped and crashed into a waiter carrying a tray of Nana Cohen's famous meatloaf, served with old fashion mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy.

Sandy walked into the dining area just in time to watch sizzling hot meatloaf and near-to-boiling gravy cover Ryan from neck to knees. His parenting instincts immediately kicked in and without thinking of the consequences he ran to the boy and began pulling off his jacket and shirt, trying to keep the hot food from burning his skin. As he grabbed for Ryan's belt he realized that the whimpers coming from Ryan weren't due to pain, as he had thought, but from embarrassment.

Ryan held on to his belt buckle for dear life, murmuring to Sandy "Please stop. Please stop." He hoped the older man would come to his senses before he ended up naked in front of the leering Newpsies. Thankfully, he managed to catch Sandy's eye and with a quick jerk of his chin pointed out their audience.

"Sorry for the disturbance, ladies." Sandy apologized as he quickly led Ryan from the room. "Lunch is on us today."

"Damn, we almost got dessert first" The Newpsies tittered and ordered a bottle of Merlot from a passing waiter.

Back in the executive washroom, Ryan slipped off his remaining clothes. Sandy ran a hand towel under the cold water faucet and used it to cover the boy's reddened chest. He noticed that Ryan's upper thighs looked as if they might also have gotten burned and prepared another towel. Ryan grabbed it from his hand and quickly covered himself.

"I think we had better take you to the doctor and have those burns looked at, just in case."

"No, it's ok Sandy. They don't hurt and the red marks are already starting to fade." Ryan lowered the towel on his chest so Sandy could see for himself.

"Well, you definitely know how to make an impression your first day"

"I'm sorry, I don't know how that happened. I knew this wasn't a good idea." Ryan began to apologize.

"Ryan, it's ok, accidents happen. I'm just happy you're not hurt."

"I'm fine. But I'm gonna need some clothes before we leave. I don't think it'd be a good idea for me to walk out to the car dressed in towels."

Sandy laughed and left to find something to cover the boy. He came back 10 minutes later with a pair of sweats and a wife beater, borrowed from the bus boy and a $50 tip from the Newpsies. Ryan accepted the clothes and the money, glaring at Sandy to keep him from commenting on the tip. Sandy just grinned broadly and let him dress in peace, then drove him home.

Once home Ryan took a quick shower and changed into his own clothes. He threw himself on his bed and immersed himself in beating the pirate game on Seth's game boy in an attempt to forget about his rousing debut.


End file.
